We the People

Monday, August 1, 2011

DEAR CONGRESS,
Last year I mismanaged my funds and this year my family and I cannot decide on a budget. Until we can come to a unified decision that fits all of our needs and interests, we will have to shut down our check book and will no longer be able to pay our taxes. I'm sure you'll understand. Thank you very much for setting an example we can all follow.

Charley Reese’s Final Column – “Why we have
taxes and deficits”
by Editor Reposts
Charley Reese’s Final Column…Retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel…
Charley Reese is retiring. His last column is this one. I know many will miss this southern
gentleman.. He had a great run and we are all better off for it.
Farewell, Mr. Reese, and thank you.
Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years.
Be sure to read the Tax List at the end.
This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be – read it!! The article below is
completely neutral, not anti republican or democrat. Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the
Orlando Sentinel, has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final
analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every
day. It’s a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!
545 vs. 300,000,000
EVERY CITIZEN NEEDS TO READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS JOURNALIST
HAS SCRIPTED IN THIS MESSAGE. READ IT AND THEN REALLY THINK ABOUT OUR
CURRENT POLITICAL DEBACLE.
545 PEOPLE–By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against
them..
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits,
WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we
have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.
You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of
Representatives does.
You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
100 senators, 435 in the House, 1 President, and 9 Supreme Court justices equates to 545
human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible
for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by
the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound
currency to a federally chartered, but PRIVATE, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal
authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one
cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The
politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the
legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 543 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not
their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No
normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the
President for creating deficits….. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force
the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House
of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the
speaker of the House? John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow
House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President
vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who
stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a
single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully
grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it
must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red ..
If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it’s because they want them in Iraq and
Afghanistan …
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the
people, it’s because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs
they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom
they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let
them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,”
“inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power..
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees…
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
What you do with this article now that you have read it……… Is up to you.
This might be funny if it weren’t so true.
Be sure to read all the way to the end:
Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table,
At which he’s fed.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.
Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for peanuts anyway!
Tax his cow,

Click here to vote in this week's poll.
The more information that comes out about the reckless "Fast and Furious" gun running operation conducted by the Phoenix BATFE office, the more clear it seems that knowledge of the operation, and approval for it, went a lot higher than the Phoenix field office, or even the BATFE.
There is now clear evidence, uncovered by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee headed by Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) that senior Obama Administration officials were aware of this disastrous operation.
Last Tuesday, Rep. Issa conducted another round of hearings. Among those who testified were William Newell and William McMahon, BATFE Special Agents who oversaw the program in Phoenix. Those hearings revealed that senior Dept. of Justice officials, including former Deputy Attorney General David Ogden and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, knew about the program.
More Senators Take a Stand Against the UN's Arms Trade Treaty: This week, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) sent a letter signed by himself and 12 of his Democratic colleagues in the Senate stating their firm opposition to any U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that included civilian firearms.
NRA-ILA Continues Gathering Information on BATFE Demand Letters: As we have previously reported the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives soon plans to take the first step toward national gun sales registration. In response to the BATFE plan--which will force the reporting of semi-automatic rifle sales by Federal Firearm Licensees in Southwest border states including Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas--NRA-ILA is looking to gather as much information as possible about the BATFE demand letters.
STATE ROUNDUP (Please note the only items listed below are those that have had recent action. For other updates on state legislation, please go to the state legislation section at http://www.nraila.org/, and check each week's issue of the Grassroots Alert.)
For additional information, please click on the links provided.
Hunting Opportunities to be Expanded on National Wildlife Refuges in Eight States
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is proposing to open Crane Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Minnesota to deer and turkey hunting for the first time, while expanding hunting activities at nine other refuges in eight states. These states include: Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Minnesota, Iowa, Utah and Texas. If approved, the proposal would provide additional public hunting opportunities in fulfillment of the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997.
Please let the Service hear your voice of support for this rulemaking. To comment on the proposed hunting rule changes online, or to read the full text of the rule click here. Comments can be submitted by clicking on the orange box in the upper right-hand corner of the page. The comment period closes August 4, 2011.
MISSISSIPPI: Important Election Information for the Primary Election on August 2
The NRA Political Victory Fund's candidate ratings and endorsements for the upcoming Republican and Democratic primary elections are now available at http://www.nrapvf.org/. Use your vote to defend your freedom at the polls on Tuesday, August 2, by voting for candidates who support our Second Amendment rights.
MISSOURI: NRA-ILA Grassroots Workshop in Sedalia, Missouri on August 9th!
Please join NRA-ILA staff on Tuesday, August 9th, for an evening of important grassroots education to learn what you can do to protect our Second Amendment rights in Missouri!
The 2011 Missouri legislative session was one of the most successful sessions for Missouri gun owners in several years, culminating in the passage of a comprehensive pro-gun reform bill. The new law makes numerous improvements to Missouri's gun laws, including allowing Missouri residents to purchase long guns from non-contiguous states and lowering the concealed carry age to 21, among other reforms. To ensure we capitalize on our recent successes, we must redouble our efforts to meet the opportunities and challenges we will continue to face in Missouri.
That's why we hope you will attend NRA-ILA's FREE Grassroots Workshop to learn what more you can do to become a better activist in the fight to protect and promote the Second Amendment!
NRA-ILA GRASSROOTS WORKSHOP
Best Western
3120 S. Limit
Sedalia, MO 65301
660-826-6100
6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Snacks and Registration
6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. NRA-ILA Grassroots Workshop
To register on-line, please visit: http://www.nraila.org/workshops/Register.aspx?ID=SedaliaMO2011, or call 800-392-VOTE (8683).
Also, please be sure to stop by the NRA-ILA booth at the Missouri State Fair, from August 11-21, located outside the Mathewson Exhibition Center!
PENNSYLVANIA: Philipsburg Rod and Gun Club Grand Re-Opening
As of July 24, the Philipsburg Rod and Gun Club has resumed operations and will have an Open House grand re-opening on Labor Day, September 5. More details will be released in the near future.

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John Petrie’s Collection of

Thomas Jefferson Quotes

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
Was the government to prescribe to us our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as our souls are now.
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” (Quoting Cesare Beccaria)
The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it.
The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits.
No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him.
To take from one because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father’s has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association—the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it.
I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. (Back then!)
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.
Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.
The god who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.
And the day will come, when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His Father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva, in the brain of Jupiter.
In matters of style, swim with the current;
In matters of principle, stand like a rock.
What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all.
The majority, oppressing an individual, is guilty of a crime, abuses its strength, and by acting on the law of the strongest breaks up the foundations of society.
When wrongs are pressed because it is believed they will be borne, resistance becomes morality.
Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread.
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add “within the limits of the law,” because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual.
It is strangely absurd to suppose that a million of human beings, collected together, are not under the same moral laws which bind each of them separately.
Liberty is the great parent of science and of virtue; and a nation will be great in both in proportion as it is free.
He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
I have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.
I have never been able to conceive how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others.
To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.
In a government bottomed on the will of all, the...liberty of every individual citizen becomes interesting to all.
I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life: if it has been honest and dutiful to society the religion which has regulated it cannot be a bad one.
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Most bad government has grown out of too much government.
Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.
The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.
A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor and bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.
I never will, by any word or act, bow to the shrine of intolerance or admit a right of inquiry into the religious opinions of others.
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?
A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.
The right of self-government does not comprehend the government of others.
An elective despotism was not the government we fought for.
History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.
If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.
It is better to tolerate that rare instance of a parent’s refusing to let his child be educated, than to shock the common feelings by a forcible transportation and education of the infant against the will of his father.
The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.
The man who reads nothing at all is better than educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers.
I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.
In every country and every age, the priest has been hostile to Liberty.

Mar
16
Charley Reese’s Final Column – “Why we have
taxes and deficits”
by Editor Reposts
Charley Reese’s Final Column…Retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel…
Charley Reese is retiring. His last column is this one. I know many will miss this southern
gentleman.. He had a great run and we are all better off for it.
Farewell, Mr. Reese, and thank you.
Charley Reese has been a journalist for 49 years.
Be sure to read the Tax List at the end.
This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be – read it!! The article below is
completely neutral, not anti republican or democrat. Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the
Orlando Sentinel, has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final
analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every
day. It’s a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!
545 vs. 300,000,000
EVERY CITIZEN NEEDS TO READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT WHAT THIS JOURNALIST
HAS SCRIPTED IN THIS MESSAGE. READ IT AND THEN REALLY THINK ABOUT OUR
CURRENT POLITICAL DEBACLE.
545 PEOPLE–By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against
them..
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits,
WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we
have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.
You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of
Representatives does.
You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
100 senators, 435 in the House, 1 President, and 9 Supreme Court justices equates to 545
human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible
for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by
the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound
currency to a federally chartered, but PRIVATE, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal
authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one
cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The
politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the
legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 543 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not
their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No
normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the
President for creating deficits….. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force
the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House
of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the
speaker of the House? John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow
House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President
vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who
stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a
single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully
grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it
must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red ..
If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it’s because they want them in Iraq and
Afghanistan …
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the
people, it’s because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs
they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom
they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let
them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,”
“inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power..
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees…
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.
What you do with this article now that you have read it……… Is up to you.
This might be funny if it weren’t so true.
Be sure to read all the way to the end:
Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table,
At which he’s fed.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.
Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for peanuts anyway!
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.
Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.
Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.
Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won’t be done
Till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He’s good and sore.
Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he’s laid…
Put these words
Upon his tomb,
Taxes drove me
to my doom…’
When he’s gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax..
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation
was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest
middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What in the hell happened?
Can you spell ‘politicians?’
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